Irsay calls Peyton Manning a “politician”

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on January 26, 2012, 5:03 PM EDT

AP

The relationship between Peyton Manning and the Colts is getting ugly fast.

Colts owner Jim Irsay is not happy about Peyton Manning’s recent comments to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. So Irsay has responded by talking to Kravitz and others after the press conference introducing coach Chuck Pagano.

“Keep it in house,” Irsay said.

Irsay also called Manning a “politician.” As Kravitz puts it, the situation is sadly “deteriorating.” Kravitz wrote something telling on Wednesday on Twitter: “When Jim Irsay said on Thurs nite football that Peyton would be a Colt if he’s healthy, think he KNEW PM wasn’t gonna be healthy.”

Manning’s health is the elephant in the room. Unfortunately, some of the tension between Manning and the Colts is getting out of the room.

This has been a defining week for Manning’s future. Until now, it was reasonable to envision the Colts trying to find a way to keep Manning.

This is an unprecedented situation. There is so much unknown with Peyton’s injury to come any type of conclusions….This has to be hard for management..The main question is…What is they trade Peyton and he just dominates for another 4 years and Luck is a bust….wow….

how far back did Peyton push his healing back by not just findind another rehab facility and going there (not sure if he did or didn’t but it sounded like he didn’t) Irsay needs to stop being a Twangsta and cut him. If you are ready to move on, move on.

This is sad. Peyton is one of the greatest players of this generation. However, he has played most of his career up to this point in an offensive scheme custom built for what he does best.

Personally, I’m afraid to watch the rest of his career if its with some other team and whatever scheme and players happen to be there when he arrives. The results may very well not mirror those of the previous decade.

He should cut him now and explain that is to provide Peyton an opportunity as early as possible to fine the best situation for him. Let folks know that the Colts are starting fresh with an exciting coach, GM and the number 1 pick in the draft.

Be the martyr, remind folks that they could have held out and gotten some draft picks, but in honor of the years Peyton gave the Colts that he would not put Peyton through that circus.

I’m a Denver fan who would love to see us pick up Peyton. Hell you could even keep Tebow on the field as a halfback/tight end player who could throw on gadget plays, and with 2-3 years of playing behind Manning getting one-on-one pointers from Peyton Manning and John Elway, two Hall-of-Famers, maybe he’ll emerge an older, wiser, pocket QB with mobility.

Of course, I know that’s probably a fantasy.

Peyton with the Jets would be damn scary, they’d finally have a decent O-Coordinator what with Manning calling all his own plays. Rexy can stick to his defense.

Peyton to Arizona makes sense to me too.

Unless Peyton just retires, this figures to be a huge topic of off-season discussion that could actually be interesting and worth following unlike Farvewatch and Tebowcenter.

Isray is right, Manning is playing the media game with the fans. He already got 26 Million this season and hasn’t played a down, now he wants the 28 Million for next season when he doesn’t even know if he can play.

Jackie MacMullan reported that the Colts FO has been informed by team doctors that he will not be healthy by the time of the March 8th bonus. Its a rumor so take it as you want but everything points to Manning not returning as a Colt.

would love to see him in miami. i don’t even care about the risk. at this point, what’s one more season if you gamble and lose on a QB? its happened so often, i’m numb to it:
jay fiedler, damon huard, ray lucas, brian griese, aj feeley, gus frerotte, sage rosenfels, daunte culpepper, joey harrington, trent green, john beck, cleo lemon, chad pennington (never forget 2008!!), chad henne, tyler thigpen, and matt moore.

It’s amazing that one of the best qb’s to ever play the game is being treated the way that he is. Best of luck to manning and his future. After the events that have taken place in the last year, I wish the very worst for the colts as long as irsay is in charge!

More evidence that the NFL is “just a business”. I don’t want to hear anymore talk of loyalty when it comes to players and teams. These players are only obligated to be loyal to their teammates and their families. Go get paid and screw these owners. The players are nothing more than walking, talking, expensive cattle in the eyes of owners.

The Irsay’s are slime balls. The old man was a drunkard scum bag. No shock that the son is a scum bag too. I am no way a Baltimore fan of any kind but what so you expect from a family that sneaks the football team out in the middle of the night.

Just ugly. And a sad ending to a great career. PM might just need to go out clean and on top and not make matters worse for him. Then again if he can play it’ll be a steal for whoever gets him next. But he has such a good rep I’d hate to see him ruin it. I’m not even a Colts fan.

The Colts will be paying for Manning for the next 5 years while he plays for someone else, or announces games from a booth.

The strange thing is, people seem to think that Peyton and Eli are these nice, humble, ‘aw-shucks’ type of guys because of how they are portrayed in commercials. Yet they are the polar opposite, they have massive egos and are sharks when it comes to the sport. Remember Eli plunking the Chargers after they drafted him? Now Peyton is punking the Colts.

I hope he is healthy enough to continue playing.
Best case: He’s healthy, Indy cuts him instead of paying out the ridiculous 28 million, he has his choice of teams that could contend if they had a dynamic QB to lead the way.

totally agree with the owner Manning thinks he is bigger than the team. actually if the guy really wants us to believe that winning is all he is about well then Peyton tell ya what , show Mr Irsay and all your fans just how important winning is by just taking a fraction of the 28 million that is due by march and tell the owner to use the rest to sign some players to help the team.

Regardless of the animosity building between Irsay and Peyton, I still think he is all done and will never play another game. He will be on network tv color commentating on NFL games, and I think he would be great at it.

The issue is simple and that is both know he will never be near 100% healthy and Manning would like his 28m. If Manning was going to be 100%, think of the holes they could fill trading that #1 pick for a ransom.

The Colts got exposed as a one-trick pony this year (no Peyton equals ugly season and No. 1 pick).

Inherit-a-franchise Irsay’s comments prove they have no direction without No. 18, and will be bad for years.

When he has a chance to look weird/clueless, Irsay always scores.

Andrew Luck will help, but he is not Peyton in his prime’s class of QB. Check out the Oregon game the last two years. He looked pretty ordinary in both losses that cost the Cardinal a conf championship and shot at the BCS title game.

What is all this loyalty crap talk about? These are employees like anybody else, period. Professionals getting PAID to play, that’s it, no more, no less so why expect it to be more than that? He got paid a king’s ransom and now he’s crying about it changing now that he’s not on top of the throne like the spoiled player he has been. Plenty of other players before him got paid a lot less, with a lot less talent granted, that got cut for lesser reasons. Life goes on, but even moreso, the NFL goes on whether you ever step foot on the field again, or not.

Colts just need to let him go, and immediately allow him to negotiate with another team, but obviously Irsay wants to stick it to him by keeping him until the last minute. The only reason Irsay is on the map is due to Peyton, and he will soon realize this one Peyton is gone. This team will not be able to turn it around overnight, and with all the new parts, it definitely will take even more time. I feel for Luck being stuck in the middle of this mess, and this could eventually make him fail as a NFL QB.

Sad. It feels like and of an ERA; when video killed the radio star. I want to romanticize football and these age and business reality cell phone calls keep ringing during my movie. Dang you reality. Dang you all to hell.

Waiting on nerves to regenerate is not a good business plan for either PM or Colts. If he was 33 or 34, probably could wait but 36 is a bridge too far.

QBs I think make great HCs. PM should take a few yeas off, make some money and then dive into coaching.

Can’t this guy (Irsay) just shut up? What good EVER comes out of an owner who can’t keep his mouth shut? Ask Cowboy and Redskins fans. Heck, ask Cavaliers fans and fans in other sports. Hire football guys and let them do their job. Stay in the luxury suite and count your money. No one wants to hear you and you just end up alienating people. He says to keep it “inhouse”, but this moron is on Twitter every time he has something to say. Congrats Jim. Your legacy will be only winning 1 Super Bowl with arguably the greatest quarterback who ever lived.

I’m a Patriots fan but this kinda sucks. As far as I’m concerned until he’s gone Peyton IS the Colts – to the point where this whole thing could have been handled a LOT better. The guy is the best Colts player to put on the uniform, I’m not saying they need to pay him $28MM because of it – but learn a way to handle this better so the guy can come back in 10 years and be heralded as the best Colts player to wear the uniform.

Enjoying all the wild speculations of fans of teams that need a QB, Denver, Raiders,KC, Jets< Miami.

As a fan of a team that will definitely not be interested in PM I feel Washington makes the most sense from an organization with an owner with very deep pockets and an established Offensive HC who would build his O around Manning besides they already have a good D

I’m not buying the “Peyton doesn’t want to play against his brother Eli in the NFC East” thing… Manning will be a Redskin soon. The owner has the deep pockets and he’s the missing link we need. Bring on the playoffs.

People who are fans of a player often fail to see through that player’s bs. There are numerous posters out here “defending” Peyton’s integrity. Please, grow a brain and realize that the Colts just paid him 20 million dollars to hold a clip board. The team doesn’t owe Peyton a thing, and he’ll get his opportunity (after he’s waived) to lead another team to the Super Bowl.

If I was a Colts fan I would be sad that Peyton’s time is over, but thankful that the grownups are running the organization. Bring on Luck and get another decade of playoff appearances!

Irsay keep your thoughts in house! Way to bad mouth the person that has carried your franchise on his back for you since he was drafted. He is the only reason for your success. It is sad that he was injured and your team gets rewarded with the rights to Andrew luck because your team sucks without Peyton. This year proves the draft should involve some type of lottery for the worst few teams.

PM has had such a great career that it’s a shame things are unfolding this way. It’s a sad fact for any athlete but the day always comes when you can’t play as well as you did. In his case, he hasn’t played at all. I don’t think it necessarily helped that PM wanted to do his contract when he knew he may not play because he hadn’t had his surgery yet.

People still don’t know if he can play, which is the problem. On one hand, you don’t want to let the face of your franchise just walk away feeling bitter, on another hand you don’t want to pay up something like $50M to a guy who won’t be playing football for you again. It’s a sad fact but the Redskins got more out of Haynesworth for $20M than what the Colts got out of PM this year, given by the fact one of those guys actually saw the field.

It’s unfortunate any time a player sees someone drafted to take their job but the future of a franchise is more important than the feelings of one player who physically won’t be able to help that franchise in the future.

Nice job, Irsay, you’ve made it next to impossible for Luck to have public support, regardless of whether he can play or not… you’ve taken what would have been a very high pressure situation and made it absolutely explosive. If I were Luck, I’d do an Elway and say I’ll sit out a year of try some other sport before I’ll play a down for Indy. Incredible lack of leadership and good judgement.

None of this would be happening if Manning didn’t force the Colts to agree to such a ridiculous contract when he KNEW he had a serious injury. Irsay isn’t publicly complaining, but he probably feels he was snookered by Manning and the Polians. I don’t see any reason that Peyton doesn’t understand the business side of the predicament he has caused. I think Irsay should just cut Manning , but allow him to come back to the Colts when he is healthy and willing to accept a lower salary. Manning has never had to adapt to another team’s system, and I think he knows that it is less likely that he will succeed under another system.

Irsay is the type of owner that give all professional sports a bad name. He purpusefully had his team lose so he can pick luck. Some of the games they lost, it was pretty obvious the team was losing on purpose.
NFL should do a lottery like the NBA because of that reason.

Peyton was underpaid for his entire career up to his new contract. He deserved it regardless of if he was hurt or not. The last person who had anything to do with the success of the Colts over the past decade is Irsay.

if jr starts now,maybe the colts fans will hate him more than they ever did his daddy for sneaking the colts out of baltimore at 3am all those years ago!
by dumping and cracking on peyton like this,he is off to one hell of a head start!

This is a lose/lose for Irsay, make your decision to release Manning and move on, football is a business and fans need to understand. Having lived in SF for 20 plus years, I remember when Montana was shuffled out of town and the only person that paid for that was Young.

Irsay is pretty hypocritical considering he is the king of Twitter posts thus not “keeping it in house” Maybe he should be more respectful to the guy who is pretty much the reason the Colts made the playoffs so many times

I can’t wait for them to release Peyton. I think Irsay is biting the hand that feeds him and the stadium and merchandise sales. I hope for the organization’s sake that Luck can adapt to professional football because if he can’t, the Colts have dug themselves an extremely deep hole. Maybe they should release Peyton and hire him as OC.

Peyton may be a politician but Irsay acts like a drunk that is discovering Twitter, talk about keeping it in house… how many team owners tweet like this moron? Polian is a hall of famer, he was a fool.. I hope their new building looks as good after a string of bad years. The Texans are a slam dunk for division title for the next 3 years..

Peyton is a tireless worker and will be successful at whatever he does.. personally, I think Irsay is just showing his true colors, because the acorn doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

Irsay paid Peyton this year not for the service but the positive publicity. Let’s not forget what his Dad did to Baltimore.. that was a storied franchise and the Ravens are beloved now, but … I was a kid living about 15 minutes from the training camp. I was there the morning after the Mayflower trucks pulled out, throwing snowballs at the Colts sign. The Irsay’s should be remembered for that as much as how they will end up handling Peyton Manning.

Besides, nobody is a lock. That team and offense will be adjusting to a rookie coach, rookie qb, new OC… good luck with that… that team will be more like St.Louis than Atlanta, even with Luck. Besides, all this.. and Luck is still one shot from being done… will he be sacked the least in the league for a decade? It wasn’t Peyton’s line that made that happen… have another drink Mr.Irsay, you are going to need it…

Manning should cash the check coming to him and\or do what all owners hate, sign within the division. As for being a politician: We don’t do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard.

Even the best players in the NFL quickly become yesterday’s news. At the time, lions fans were so angry with Barry but I think more and more are seeing he really had it figured out unlike so many of these guys—-his life wasn’t about just football. Walked away at the top of his game.

I don’t blame Irsay at all. He may pay Manning almost $50,000,000.00 in two years and if he can’t play again next year or his career ends then that is HUGE walk away cash. He needs to cut his losses and draft Luck and keep moving.
Manning is one big hit away from a wheelchair and I think he knows it. I think if Irsay let’s him go he will NEVER get the payday somewhere else and he might not be “sea worthy” for a long time if ever. That’s a huge hit.
I would cut him.
It would be insane to BLOW more money on him.
The free ride is over Payton.
“You are now free to fly around the country”.

This is a pure business decision, think about all the x-rays pre & post the (3) surgeries. Whether team physicians exchanging medical information with Peyton’s private physicians BOTH sides know how serious the damage is. If there were a true possibility for a strong recovery all this sheeyite wouldn’t be going down. Peyton is probably done period ! Something in those xrays is saying “not going to happen.” Unfortunately, Peyton now finds himself a liability for the first time versus a commodity……..I’m not happy about it but those appear to be the facts. Like someone commented earlier, he got a whole season of game checks while sitting in a premiere box and should be thankful.

Peyton signed a mega contract that recognized his talent and rewarded him for his outstanding abilities. Peyton was paid last season. Irsay has stated publicly that Peyton can finish his career with the Colts and that he will pay him.

The Colts are changing.

The only person deciding if Peyton will stay with the team is Peyton himself.

Its not getting ugly as some dumb ass writer would have you beleive. Its all strategy.

1. Manning has heard the press and the idea of being in the big apple for a couple of years before calling it a career appeals to him. I mean the Jets are close as a team and the Colts are rebuilding, are you kidding me. He wants out big time.

2. Irsay doesn’t want to fork over the big money on a chance he can’t play again. He already has the first pick and Mannings replacement so getting rid of him because he said some things opens the door for him with the fan base. Irsay wants to dumb Manning but not alienate the fans so Mannings crying in the news gives him the opening to justify it.

polian was fired for years of bad drafting and having his son get paid too. the payton imbroglio this year where there was clearly no backup plan (and they never had one due to manning’s ego) was the icing on the cake. people are correct, same issue if eli goes down.

sure, the team quit. the FO did first.

issue is, was there any withholding of injury info. when did the team determine manning’s neck was shot, assuming they have. assuming they were quick enough on the uptake.

i am not convinced he will ever play again. if he is given a clean bill of health he would be either be an upgrade or a distinct threat to every other starting qb out there. basically few teams wouldnt consider signing him if their starter was healthy (NE, PIT, HOU, SD, NYG, GB, NO…). and they would still be tempted. all of them.

Wow this how the Colts treat their best player in franchise history. I really like Luck, but I hope he busts for this franchise. They way they laid down this season to acquire him was terrible.
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You ought to be ashamed for even SUGGESTING that the Colts rolled over for a 22 year old KID.

Blindshootist – I read somewhere that the irsay family had promised to leave the name and colors in Baltimore. That way 1) The people in indy would have the chance to choose the name and colors and 2) When a NFL team came to Baltimore they could be called The Colts again. Obviously they weren’t true to their word.

I don’t give a damn what Edgar Allan Poe said – the ‘Baltimore Ravens’ just doesn’t sound right.

I LOVE the fact that when the colts play in Baltimore the scoreboard says ‘indy’ instead of ‘colts.’ I LOVE that.

Said it when Irsay clipped Polian (although the opposite was speculated on this site). Irsay cleaned the house so that he didn’t have anyone in the building being sentimental about getting rid of his old boy for his new one.

Also, you see a little passive aggressive feelings coming out from Irsay on Manning and the Polians. Maybe this guy is as wacky as all the twitter rants make him seem to be and the winning prevented him from becoming another Daniel Snyder in the past.

I mean what was their to complain about when you’re winning 12 or 13 games a season for 10 years without making yourself look foolish?

It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. Irsay is trying to paint Peyton as the bad guy in order so that the owner and his team don’t get crucified for trading Peyton.

It also probably means that Peyton’s isn’t likely to make a full recovery from his surgery. Though it might just mean that some of Irsay’s investments went bad and he doesn’t want to afford Peyton’s bonus anymore.

Irsay, you’re the politician here. Small surprise that he’s acting like a douche. Not even a Colts fan, but I hope Peyton puts up huge numbers next year and Colts fans annihilate Irsay in the press.

I believe the Colts franchise in Baltimore was destroyed purposely for the facilitation of a moving of the team to another city. I remember all of the threats to move the Colts to Memphis, Phoenix, and Jacksonville. Then they moved to Indianapolis, of all places. Looks like the same thing is occurring now. 30 years removed.

I can’t stand the whole Colts / Ravens thing. Nothing against the Ravens, as they had nothing to do with it, but if there is a team in Baltimore, it should be the Colts, just like the Browns in Cleveland. It could just as easily be the Indianapolis Ravens, I suppose… but it’s all water under the bridge now. At least Baltimore kept the band… really enjoyed that documentary on that “other” sports network.

Good luck Peyton, looks like you’ll be elsewhere (hopefully not the AFC East) next year.

I did not read every single comment because I’m sure I’ll agree and disagree with some. I will say out of those who commented about Peyton/Irsay, I have followed the COLTS even before they came to my “home town” of Indy. When the COLTS 1st arrived it was all so new to us and having an NFL team might actually “put us on the map.” We made very little noise in the NFL until 95 when Harbaugh almost took us to the promised land only to fall short due to the inability of a Ref to see an obvious infraction and take the game away from us. It wasn’t until Peyton Manning was signed along with several other great draft choices, that we, the COLTS, became a force in the AFC anf NFL. It happened because of a lot of hard work and dedication that unless your a die hard COLTS fan and/or Indy native, you may not have seen! This year the COLTS nation saw what an impact one player, or the lack there of, can have on a team. As a fan of the team, it hurt but as a fan of Peyton, it hurt even more. Anyone who knows anything about him knows that he would’ve much rather been healthy and on the field. Anyone who knows anything about him will also know it’s never been about him, but the team. He has done more for the COLTS and the community than any number of people have in the same amount of time. The fact is when he’s on the field, the whole team is better. When he’s in Indianapolis, the whole city is better. I would never want Peyton to come back to football if it meant any sort of permanent injury. He may be on the edge of being football elderly, but he’s still a young man with a family. I would much rather see him retire with what he “has left” and while he’s still on top rather than go down scarred for life. I hope it’s his decision to make and he makes the right one!! Obviously, if he is deemed healthy, I’d love to see him on the field, but what a cost it could come with. Jim Irsay is a good man and I’m sure he too wants what’s best for the team. Had this been “Old Man Irsay” alot of heads would’ve rolled long before now. Look at his history before and after coming to Indy.
Gooo COLTS!!!!

Typical Irsay scum reaction. Treat the best quarterback like he’s a bum and pretend he caused you to lose all year long. No wait. His dad did the same thing to Johnny Unitas at the end of his career. So glad they moved in the night during the snow. Baltimore has the Ravens now and they are winning.

I like Peyton. I think he has been a respectable athlete.
However, with multiple neck surgeries, I fear for his health, playing a full contact sport like NFL football. One bad fall or tackle could possibly be life threatening.
I believe he should hang up his cleats and get a clip board because he will have a lot to offer as a qb coach.
I think I will remember him best for his commercials. He has made some of the more entertaining commercials.

If Peyton Manning is called a “politician”, its because he is being politically correct. I, on the other hand am not. So on behalf of Peyton Manning, who won’t say it, I would like to say a personal F**K YOU to Jim Irsay.

Any owner that would wait and bring this circus to town during the draft, ota’s and camp is destine for failure. Let him go NOW! Before you destroy your whole offseason with these distractions. The ?’s will still be asked surly but everyone will be 6months removed from this and they can ask more ?’s about his new team. Divide and conquer the media circus.

Sounds like Brett Favre and Green Bay all over again. You put your heart and sole into a franchise and they push you onto the curb when their through with you. Peyton deserves better.
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I don’t know nearly as much about the Indy affair, but please remember Favre RETIRED after several years of hemming and hawwing and issuing ultimatums to the team. Beginning in 2005, Favre wanted to be able to direct which players were supposed to retained, who his coach was supposed to be, to broker free agent deals, and ultimately, IN RETIREMENT, direct how the draft was supposed to unfold. He essentially wanted to be the de facto GM of the Packers, and NOTHING he did, real of imaginary, allowed him to be the de facto GM of the team. I’m sure important players are given SOME input, but I don’t see any team giving any player the power that Favre obviously felt he should have, all facts coming from Favre’s own mouth (the Greta interviews and some early 2009 interviews). He was paid millions to be the best QB for the team he possibly could be, and when that was in question, by words out of his own mouth AND a RETIREMENT the Packers moved on. It was Favre who decided to come back late in the cycle to force his release so he could exact revenge. Of course, being Brett Favre, he ultimately failed – came close in 2009, but got it in the behind in 2010.

The Manning thing might be a little different in that I think Manning did much more individually as far as pulling the team up than Favre did with the Packers. Manning playing Manningball actually made the Colts who they were, while Favre playing Favreball ran against the system Holmgren put it. In other words, Manning made the successful system in which he played while Favre would work against the successful Holmgren system (and the same system helmed by Sherman, a former Holmgren offensive co-ordinator) to negative effect. Harlan, Wolf, and Holmgren had a lot to do with Packer success, perhaps more than the rest of the Colt organization did for theirs.

But at the end of the day, the team is owned long term by someone other than Manning. Built into the relationship is that Manning (or any player no matter how big) is temporary. No matter what quasi-equity position they have, or THINK they have, they will eventually move on and the crypt keeper owner will remain.